'Cross Walk' Brings Christians Together to Commemorate Good Friday

A group of congregants from three Novi churches came together Good Friday evening for a walk from Novi United Methodist Church near 10 Mile and Meadowbrook, to about a mile and a half south on Meadowbrook Road. 

The walk has been held over the past four years, to commemorate the walk Jesus took on the day of his crucifixion, carrying the cross on which he would later die, according to the Christian Bible.

"I was looking for something that would be a visible demonstration of faith, something that would require an action," said walk founder Rev. Art Ritter. "It just came to me." 

A couple of men in the congregation built the 40-pound cross, he said. The walk is meant to be contemplative, but not made in silence. Walkers engage in "quiet conversation", Ritter said. 

Rev. June Marshall Smith of Novi United Methodist Church said nine area churches participated in an ecumenical service earlier in the day, at Church of the Holy Family on Meadowbrook Road.